1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to laser surgery. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus, or modified air cystoscope utilized in a system for the treatment of the female urethral and trigone portion of the bladder using the CO2 laser primarily for eradicating urethral and trigonal condylomata acuminata.
2. General Background
In the treatment of diseases concerning the female urethral and the floor of the bladder, or trigone, visualization of the infected areas has been undertaken by the use of an apparatus known as a Kelly Air Cystoscope. Such a device included a handle member attached to a hollow shaft portion which terminated in a flared neck to which the handle was attached. There is included a second portion comprising a primary shaft with a cone on the forward portion of the shaft, and a handle portion on the rear portion of the shaft, with the second member insertable into the bore of the shaft so that once fully inserted the cone portion would protrude out from the distal end of the shaft, and the handle portion could be grasped together with the handle portion at the primary member. The device was of a particular length and diameter so that it could be inserted into the urethra opening of the female bladder, and when the secondary portion was then removed from the shaft, one could visually inspect through the bore the trigone area of the bladder, or the wall of the urethra opening, in order to determine whether infections or the like are present in these areas. This tool was used primarily, but not exclusively, as a visualization tool, prior to treatment of these areas in the most common manner.
With the on-set of the use of laser treatment of infected areas, such as bladder or urethra infections, one of the more particular problems in the treatment of these areas with the laser, is the ability to direct the laser beam directly to the infected area so that the beam is not hindered in it's passage through the urethra opening. This problem is an on-going problem and was heretofore unsolved until the use of the combination of the laser beam with the modified cystoscope as heretofore as described, by the present inventor.
The prior art would disclose the Kelly Cystoscope in all of the classic literature in the area of urethra or trigone infections, and the Kelly Air Cystoscope is a known apparatus used widely over many years in the medical field. Further, there are patents which were found as a result of a search conducted in the U.S. Patent Office, which address the type of an apparatus which may be used in the similar manner as a Kelly Air Cystoscope, these patents which are as follows:
______________________________________ PATENT NO. PATENTEE TITLE ______________________________________ 2,279,714 Meyerhof "Cystoscope" 2,487,498 Wallace "Cystoscope" 4,211,229 Wurster "Laser Endoscope" 4,266,548 Davi "Apparatus For And Method Of Utilizing Energy To Excise Pathological Tissue" 4,313,431 Frank "Endoscopic Apparatus With A Laser Light Conductor" 4,557,255 Goodman "Urethroscope" 4,630,598 Bonnet "Uretero-Renoscope" 4,760,840 Fournier, Jr. "Endoscopic Laser Instrument" 4,881,524 Boebel "Instrument For Guiding A Laser Light Transmitting Fiber" 4,899,734 Gelley "Speculum With Arresting Device" ______________________________________